


Ve'Imru Amen

by LoveChilde



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Collection: Purimgifts Day 1, F/M, Grief/Mourning, Post-Avengers: Endgame (Movie), Religion, after thanos
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-03-06
Updated: 2020-03-06
Packaged: 2021-02-28 23:42:06
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 991
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23025733
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LoveChilde/pseuds/LoveChilde
Summary: After the Snap, after the Return, Wanda turns to the religious practices of her childhood. But what's a Jewish-born woman to do when the man she loved and lost was not Jewish, and, strictly speaking, not a man?
Relationships: Wanda Maximoff/Vision
Comments: 6
Kudos: 13
Collections: Purimgifts 2020





	Ve'Imru Amen

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Creature_Ariel](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Creature_Ariel/gifts).



It should have come as no surprise at all that pastoral services were almost at a state of collapse after The Return. Wanda didn’t even want to imagine how it had been after The Snap, after half the living things in the world had disappeared. Those priests, ministers, rabbis and other religious figures left would have had to deal with their own confusion and grief, while tending to others. It must have been chaos. 

In a way, it was easier to be among those who had stopped existing, at that point. Sure, they had to deal with a world five years changed, and paradigm shifted, but they were _back_ now, and it was as if no time had passed, for them. Those left behind had it much harder.

The world was reduced. Tens of millions had died in those five years, of old age and war and disease, of the chaos created when half the population had snapped out of the world. The death toll in car and plane crashes alone was horrific. Wanda had sat and reviewed it all. She felt like she owed it to the dead. 

She owed homage to her own dead as well, would never return. This was what brought her here, to the community she had no set foot in since her mother had dragged her for the High Holy Days when she was still in her teens. But she remembered the address, and she remembered Rabbi Rozin’s face, and she wanted to _know_. She wanted to be comforted. The New York First Reform Temple was as good a place for it as any. 

“I will not be embarrassed by this.” She told herself as she walked in. “I will own it.” 

Still, as she explained her situation, and wishes to the rabbi, she felt awkward, exposed and shamed - not because the rabbi was anything less than sympathetic, but because explaining it drove home how outlandish and unreasonable her situation was. She got through it, however, if only for the perverse pleasure of watching the rabbi try to digest it all. 

“So, let me just review. You want to say Kaddish for you significant other, who died just before the Snap during the fight again Thanos -”

“Yes.”

“But your significant other was, in no particular order, not married to you, not, strictly speaking, human, and not a Jew. Also, women don’t usually say the Kaddish. Right so far?”

It was a solid summary, and Wanda nodded. “We weren’t married, but...I loved him. And he sacrificed himself trying to stop Thanos. He deserves to be remembered and noted, and...this is the way I know.” Her father had said Kaddish for her grandparents, on the anniversary of their deaths every year. “I’m just not sure...that I can? I mean, he wasn’t Jewish.” 

He wasn’t flesh and blood, either, but her heart had broken all the same. This might start it mending. Maybe.

“Okay.” The rabbi drew a deep breath and released it slowly. “Okay. The easy things first - marriage isn’t a prerequisite. You can say Kaddish for any relative or friend. Also, while as a woman you’re not required to say Kaddish, since it’s a time-bound commandment, you’re not _forbidden_ from saying it. If you can come to services, you can say it, no problem there.” This would not be true for more Orthodox synagogues, Wanda knew, but the New Reform was - well. There was a reason she’d come here. 

“Next, that he’s not Jewish.” The rabbi spoke smoothly and did not consult any sources, which showed that the question had come up before, and often. “Also, not as big of a problem. The general consensus is that as long as you are comforted by it, and believe that, had he been alive, he would have been comforted and uplifted by it and wished for you to do it, it is not forbidden to say Kaddish for a gentile. For the uplifting of his soul.”

“Ah…” There, that was the difficult part, and the rabbi nodded.

“Ah. And now we reach the one thing I do not have a previous learned opinion or fifteen on. Is an android alive? Does he have a soul? Believe it or not, this was discussed, briefly, in the matter of the Golem of Prague. But your-”

“Vision.” She helps,

“Vision, he had a consciousness. A will of his own, autonomy? He was not fully programmed, am I right? I remember reading about him, in news coverage of the battle.”

That left Wanda a little choked and breathless, but she nodded. “In his mind, in his spirit, he was as human as anybody. He felt, he wished - he loved.” She had to stop and regain control of herself. “He was loved.”

“Well then, I think that settles it.” The rabbi nodded, smiling slightly. “He thought, learned, felt, desired, loved, was loved. That covers, in my opinion, the requirements of a soul. I’m not sure it’ll ever be held up as a learned precedent, but...really. If you want to say Kaddish for the man you loved, whether he was flesh or metal and plastic, then I think you should be able to. And you’re welcome to it.” 

Wanda cried, long and hard. The rabbi offered tissues, tea and silence while she did. She left with a lighter heart than she’d had since she’d returned and Vision hadn’t.

Which was how she found herself in the synagogue, early the next morning. Until the moment came in the service for the saying of Kaddish, she wasn’t sure she’d do it. But then six others stood to say it, men and women, and she was on her feet, and at first she couldn’t remember the words, but slowly they came to her. 

“ _Yitgadal v’yitkadash sh’mei raba…_ ” The prayer contained no mention of death, only the glorification of God and the wish for peace and comfort. 

And Wanda found peace, and was comforted.

**Author's Note:**

> I know movie-verse Wanda isn't explicitly mentioned to be Jewish, and isn't Magneto's daughter, but...y'know, let's roll with the assumption that she is. Mourning norms mentioned were actually researched, I swear. Title is the final words of the Kaddish, art from the new WandaVision series promo material. 
> 
> Happy Purim!


End file.
